One of the major driving forces within the current corporate and consumer environment is technology. On a daily basis technology affects the decisions of both corporate executives and the consumer. On average, technology influences corporations to reduce their bottom line spending by replacing costly out of date business methods with new media and systems that are available to them. In a similar manner, these technological forces also drive consumers to find ways to save time and make daily life more convenient.
As a result of the interaction of these forces in the corporate and consumer environment, an interesting niche has developed. The niche that has emerged is the need for an inexpensive, easy to manufacture product that increases corporate cost efficiency and improves end user convenience through multi functionality and reusability. The media holder mouse pad is the device that can fulfill this niche.
Currently many corporations have chosen to distribute media via floppy diskettes and compact discs instead of in the traditional form of print catalogs and leaflets. Though corporations are cutting bottom line costs through this transition, they still have wasted dollars tied to the disposable packaging of this digital media.
Many diskette and compact disc storage cases have been designed, but they do not address this need for a multi-functional, reusable and ready to be mailed storage device. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,334 to Giovanni and U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,848 to Cha et al.
Modifications of the disk storage box have been proposed. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,950 to Li. However, the Li patent is limited to a storage box having an extendible lid that can be used to hold pieces of paper. Due to its' design, Li's device requires multiple separate pieces which not only increases the cost and difficulty of manufacturing it, but also reduces its practicality for other applications. For instance, the Li device could not be used as a mouse pad since the raised clip on the lid of the box would interfere with the user's movement.
The traditional mouse pad also does not fill that niche either. Instead, a traditional pad generally remains on the user's desktop and is typically not transported because it is difficult to use when traveling.
In addition to the aforementioned limitations, many computer users have also encountered the problem of running out of work space on the traditional mouse pad. In U.S. Pat. No. Des. 395,876 to Afarian, a mouse pad with "interlocking pieces" was proposed. Afarian required that one piece be laid over the other piece creating a larger surface area. However, this design produces uneven edges at the point of connection which can be difficult to flatten due to the use of flexible material(such as foam). Furthermore, Afarian's pad limits itself on its size since the pad can only be as large as the size of two interlocking pieces.
Several other modified mouse pads have been proposed over the years. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 411,192 to Wu; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 361,326 to Schriner and U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,637 to Schriner describe mouse pads having storage containers. The Wu patent requires a separate compartment mounted on the side of a mouse pad, that is limited to being able to store a computer mouse. As for the Schriner patents, they require pivotal hinges and a sloped exterior top surface with extra material for supporting one's wrist, as well as a storage compartment that "is preferably partitioned . . . (for the storage of) pencils, pens, pads, and paper clips."
Other patents of interest that also fail to overcome the problems with the prior art include U.S. Pat. No. Des. 428,418 to Benedict et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,746 to McQueeny; U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,265 to Lutz et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,059 to Hiller.